


We move like the ocean

by Warmybones



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Body Paint, Fluff, Grinding, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 21:00:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warmybones/pseuds/Warmybones
Summary: They dance for the sake of an alliance, but they fell in love way before that.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I have a weakness for my boys in lipstick and tight clothes watching their significant other like they are the most beautiful thing in the universe. I have no excuse.  
> Enjoy!

“You look very handsome, paladin,” one of the aliens said, looking at Keith with careful eyes as she swept over the work they had done on him.

Keith barely cowered away from her gaze, but he felt shyness prickling underneath his skin when all the ladies in the room hummed appreciatively, putting one of their gloved hands over their mouths; a traditional sign of acceptation in this rich planet. 

“Thank you,” he said, body tight with tension and embarrassment, relived that his voice didn’t break.

_We are trying to form an alliance, Keith, and I know this goes well out of your comfort zone but, please, be nice._

He remembered Shiro’s words before the aliens had taken him away from the group to the preparatory room. Remembered the way he had looked at him pleadingly with a touch of worry, knowing, far better than anyone in the room, just how much strangers touching him ticked him off.

But it was all right, Keith thought, remembering other situations, other missions where achieving an alliance with another species had been complicated at the very _least._ It was all right, and it was even nice to just have to perform a harmless ritual to success on their mission.

So when the aliens had come to get him he had looked at his team, finding solace in the way they all seemed relaxed, safe, happy to have one easy thing in their already complicated lives. Hunk and Pidge had thumbed up at him, Shiro had squeezed his shoulder and Lance…

God, Lance.

 _You are going to be okay,_ he had said, all humour replaced by a soft tone that had frozen Keith in place, unable to move as the aliens’ hands tried to coax him away from his group. He had gone willingly, body unresponsive as they led him through the room with his head turned around, not able to stop looking at Lance.

He had smiled at him, something intimate and full of encouragement, before his attention had been turned away from Keith to the prince of the planet, who had started to speak words Keith’s brain hadn’t been able to decipher.

Only when there had been a door separating them, Keith had been able to take his mind under control and, only when the ladies had stripped him from his armour and began painting his torso with cold-to-the-touch brushes, had he allowed himself to think about the blue paladin with a longing feeling.

They still fought, had their typical banters, but it all started to seem more playful than anything; Lance’s pouts bordering on little smiles whenever Keith got riled up by one of his comments and snapped at him. They still fought, but the little moments they had were rapidly outweighing these fights: Lance’s encouragement, his touches and the few heart-to-heart moments they had had were enough to send Keith’s mind reeling.

_You are going to be okay._

 He wished he could have said something back.

“You may look at yourself, paladin,” the ladies said, bowing their head respectfully and giving him room to look at himself on the wide crystalline surface that was the wall.  

Keith gasped, taking in the sight before him and trying to understand that the reflection looking back was _him_. He looked gorgeous and splendid, just like he had imagined the soldiers that had plagued the adventure stories he had read as a kid. He was barefoot, the coldness of the tiles seeping through his skin, and the lines drawn there, vein-like, seemed to convey how the shivers ran up from there throughout his whole skin.

He was naked except for a pair of tight black pants that rode low on his hips, accentuating the curve of his hips and his legs. He felt shyness rising from somewhere inside of his chest at having his body exposed and hugged tightly by the fabric, but it all became meaningless when his eyes traced the lines on his torso. They were gorgeous; the colour from different lines blending with each other, creating and transforming themselves into patterns and colours he had never even dared to imagine. There was a prominence of red and rough lines on his body, like the ones that marked his shoulder, making them seem wider, or the ones that led from the end of his ribcage to the end of his navel, creating an almost triangle that seemed to encourage, playfully, to look further from its end into the pants’ edges. 

But there were also soft colours and round lines, like the ones on his chest, small and thin, like creepers climbing up his skin and trying to create flowers from the warmth beneath them. The lines went up and up, travelling through his neck and curling effusively around his pulse point.

It was a shame he couldn’t see the work they had done on his back, but he thought, as he watched the maroon shade they had painted his lips with, that he was more than satisfied with how well they had put him together.

“It’s… amazing,” he said lowly, in awe, watching how the ladies had tied his hair back skilfully, letting everyone appreciate the smoothness of his neck.

The ladies giggled behind him and thanked him for his kindness, still with one of their hands over their mouths. Keith watched himself for a moment longer, basking in the powerful feeling that sparkled deep inside him, before turning around to face the aliens.

“What do I have to do now?”

It was one of the ladies, the one that seemed older, more elegant, who spoke, narrowing the space that separated them as she did so.

“You will dance with one of your fellow paladins in the sacred lake of our people. Whatever your true intentions are, the lake will let us know.”

 She spoke slowly, sounding like the breeze did in a late summer night, and it calmed Keith, muscles unwinding as he let the aliens lead him by his arms through rooms, hallways and passageways before finally descending a set of old stairs that led to a rusty door. There was blue fluorescent light pouring through the cracks of the door and, when one of the ladies came forward to push the doors open, Keith felt his breath leaving his lungs abruptly.

Beyond that door laid what felt like a different world from this plane of reality, something so beautiful that Keith’s mind would have never been able to imagine, even if he tried. The space in which he stumbled upon was a cave, a big one carved out of black rocks, inside which rested a lake. It took up almost all of the cave’s surface, barely leaving a trail of rocks above water to go around the edge of the lake and he marvelled at the humid feeling that hit his body when he finally went through the door, black rocks scratching his bare feet.

He felt breathless from the glow in which the cave was immerged in, the same blue fluorescent light that had creeped around the edges now engulfed everything, creating a calming atmosphere that had Keith’s hands twitching. There was water everywhere, he noticed, spilling from every surface, water running down from every rock, flowing over the fluorescent stains that took up the cave, lightening it up and bringing it to life, making it almost as if the water was yearning to reach the lake.

“And whatever your heart truly desires will be seen too,” whispered in his ear the one who had pushed the door open before walking away from him and closing the door behind her, leaving him alone to watch, entranced, the space before him.

And he would have continued to do so if he hadn’t spotted a figure on the other end of the cave, at the edge of the lake, just in front of another rusty door. He watched curiously the way the man ran his hands over the surface of the water, drawing patterns with his fingers, seeming lost in thought. The light brought out the sharpness of his face and managed to smooth them at the same time, illuminating his skin with the gracefulness an artist would create their masterpiece. His heart beat wildly against his ribcage when the man shifted, allowing him to get a better look of his face. Keith came forward, ignoring the black rocks digging into his heels and called out, uncertainly.

“Lance?”

Even if the boy resembled Lance, even if Lance had always been beautiful, there was no way this out-of-the-world beauty that was standing meters away from him was his fellow paladin. He couldn’t be, because otherwise Keith’s heart might just explode right there, pushing the words he so wanted to say through his throat, into his tongue, so they could tangle with his teeth. 

“Keith?” the man, _Lance_ , asked, his eyes brightening up when he saw it was him, as he got up from the rocks, stretching his long legs.

They both froze, each one on one side of the cave, and took the other in, eyes tracing torsos, hips and legs, hearts beating rapidly and hands twitching with need.

He didn’t hear Lance gasp, he _saw_ it, focused as he was on the way the patterns of his chest lead to one line to the other, contrasting with his dark skin deliciously. He saw the way the ribcage expanded shortly, the way his collarbone shifted, and he swallowed, feeling short of breath, wanting to breathe the air Lance had breathed out.

His eyes drifted down, towards Lance’s belly, feeling a scorching heat on his cheeks, a flick of a flame burning lowly inside his stomach. Instead of wearing dark tight pants, the aliens had made him wear loose white pants that almost hid his feet. The fabric hugged his hips sweetly, his long limbs accentuated and his sharp angles smoothed with the fabric. It looked incredibly good on him, with the blue lines on his skin dipping below the pants, making Keith want to run his hands through there.

God, he wanted to touch Lance so much his bones _ached._

“You look… good,” Lance said into the silence of the cave, voice breaking slightly towards the end, his cheeks catching a reddish colour that highlighted the colour of his eyes.

 _I did that_ , Keith thought, something warming up inside of him at being able to get Lance like that.

“You too,” he said, faltering and coming to stand at the edge of the lake.

 _You look gorgeous_ is what he wanted to say, but he held his tongue in a desperate attempt to hold onto his sanity.

“I know,” Lance cooed, and with a gesture to the water and an exaggerated bow that he hoped would hide his blush, he said: “After you.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but crouched down so he could enter the water. It was lukewarm, and it left a soothing feeling on its wake. He sighed, his muscles unwinding, and, by accident, saw Lance’s eyes trailing down his torso, with his mouth slightly open and his cheeks even redder than before.

He felt his stomach tightening, his hands gripping the edge of the lake with something akin to desperation, his hips twitching slightly and he was suddenly tempted to let them move as they pleased; put himself on display for Lance to see, for Lance to watch him like that.

Keith swallowed the temptation, the desire down, trying his hardest to not let his trembling limbs affect the way he swam through the lake until he got closer to the other side, where Lance was watching, mesmerized, Keith’s muscles working as he pushed himself through the water.

“Come on,” Keith said, wet and beautiful, maroon lips managing a smile as he extended a hand for Lance, still hanging on the edge.

“Do you even know how to dance?” Lance asked, hoping off the rocks and into the lake with a smooth movement, taking Keith’s hand and feeling a current running through his nerves when their skins touched.

He eyed Keith from beneath his eyelids, one of his eyebrow shooting up playfully but Keith, instead of answering, smirked, basking in the surprised look on Lance’s face when he took him by the waist and brought him closer. The water splashed around them and Lance choked on his own scream, falling into Keith’s arms as he stumbled, the water and Keith’s own arms keeping him afloat. 

“I do,” he said when Lance had finally regained his footing, smirk still in place.

He did, surprisingly. He wasn’t a professional or anything like that, but he knew how to control and move his body, and he was sure he could twirl Lance’s body _beautifully._ Keith had seen the boy dance many times before, had seen the way he moved his hips, easily and freely, and had laid awake far too many nights thinking about them, thinking about what it would like to feel Lance’s skin underneath his fingertips.

And now that he had it, right there, with Lance looking indignantly at him, even when his body was arching into Keith’s, he couldn’t help but shiver.

“Then show me,” Lance said, challenging, winding his hands around Keith’s neck and stepping closer, toes barely touching underwater.

There had been a catch in Lance’s voice and Keith took pleasure in the fact the he was just as nervous, that he was becoming a mess, just like him.

He decided to toss his logical side to the air the recklessly filling up his veins and nerves, as he got his hands on Lance’s back, closing the space between them rapidly until they were chest to chest, faces so close they could feel each other’s breath on their lips. 

Lance’s breath was warm, just as the eyes that were looking at him, widened slightly. His arms shifted on Keith’s shoulders to adjust the closeness, fingers splaying themselves on his shoulder blades carefully, and Keith felt a pang of something so _deep_ he couldn’t help but close the distance between them a little more.

“I will show you,” he whispered, watching as Lance’s eyelids dropped, body tightening, the background noise of the water flowing creating a sense of safety, loosening Keith’s tongue. “I want to show you.”

Lance opened his mouth, then closed it and opened it once again, trying to find the words to say, trying to clear his head from the hazed heat that was overcoming his mind. Keith watched attentively every move he made, from the flutter of his eyelids to the pull of his lips, feeling proud that he had managed to render Lance speechless, and feeling fiercely protective at the sudden vulnerability Lance displayed.

“Don’t do this to me,” Lance finally murmured, almost painfully, as his fingers dig tightly into Keith’s back muscles.

His eyes were closed, his breath shaky and Keith could see every little detail of the patterns that had been drawn on Lance’s skin; lines turned into curves turned into waves that crashed against Lance’s chest, lines that turned into birds flying through the skin, waiting to be set free. Lines underneath his eyes and over his cheekbones, like waterfalls spilling.

The blush on Lance’s cheeks looked like the death of the day over an ocean and Keith thought, with a clarity he had never imagined, that the world could be burning up, falling into pieces all around them, that he would not be able to look away from the boy in front of him.

“Do what?” he asked, his eyes following the drops that rolled down the side of Lance’s face, until they disappeared under the sharp line of the boy’s jaw.

He became distracted when Lance’s eyes snapped up to look into his own, a hurricane of emotions dancing inside of those irises, pulling Keith in sweetly, a promise that drowning inside of them would be a beautiful torture. He breathed in shakily and, _god_ , he needed his heart to calm down so he could appreciate the softness in Lance’s voice.

So he could stop being afraid for a second.

He got a tighter hold of Lance’s body, canting his hips with the flow of the water, and began to move slowly, his hands coaxing Lance’s frozen figure to do the same. He was looking at him with widened eyes, fingers holding tightly to Keith’s shoulders and, when Keith brushed their feet encouragingly underwater, he managed to get his breath back.

“I— “he tried to say, but Keith’s hands were suddenly on his lower back, fingertips pressing softly at the base of his spine and he felt all the words, all the logic leaving his mind.

Lance bit his lip, baring his throat for moment, vulnerable, when he tried to supress a shiver. He choked on a small sound and Keith suddenly wanted to trap him there, in between his arms, make him take all the shivers, all the pleasure that his mouth could coax out of Lace’s body. He wanted to kiss away the traces of Lance’s own teeth on his lips, to capture his lower lip with his own lips and only let go when his pout had transformed into a smile.

“Tell me,” Keith said, and swept Lance from one side to the other delicately, following the current with a swift movement that had Lance gasping, squirming at the sudden tightness of his stomach when their chests brushed. 

“You jerk,” Lance managed to breathe out, tightening his grip on Keith and moving his hips in tandem with the flow of the water, pushing his body against Keith’s so he was guiding instead of the other way round. “Your stupid face, and your stupid mouth and, and, and---“

“My stupid mouth?” Keith murmured, cutting Lance off and watching, entranced, the slight quiver beneath Lance’s skin, the way his eyelids dropped to half-mast and the way he caught his lower lip with his teeth.

“Yeah,” Lance said, his fingertips sneaking up Keith’s chin until they caressed his lips, Lance’s eyes training on them intently. “This stupid mouth.”

 _Mine_ , he thought as his hands tightened on Lance’s hips, feeling the smoothness and the warmness there. _Mine_ , he thought, watching Lance become pliant underneath his hands, underneath his mouth, inches away from pouring his heart into the other’s throat.

 _The lake will let us know._ Well, this was it, for him. What his heart truly desired. Having Lance pressed against his body, blushing so shyly it made Keith’s heart skyrocket, being able to see closely the way his eyes brightened, the way he regarded Keith with something scorching and soft, fondness written all over the way he touched Keith’s skin delicately, almost as if he was committing it to memory.

Keith wanted this from Lance, and so, so much more he could barely keep the words from spilling sweetly into the space between them. 

“Lance,” he leaned down, brushing their foreheads together, making Lance sigh, and it was so right, it felt so _right._ “I—“

“Keith,” he murmured and the way his voice broke around the edges made Keith pull him closer still, until they were chest to chest, Lance’s hands finding their way to Keith’s hair. “ _Please._ ”

And Keith was gone, reason tossed into the wind, his whole body leaning forward, wanting to kiss him as sweetly as he had sounded. Their lips locked in an eager movement, warmness washing over both of their bodies when they felt the other so closely for the first time. Keith moved his lips in tandem with Lance’s, and marvelled at the way Lance pushed against him, mouth opening to capture his lower lip and caress it. Keith pushed back, bruising his lips tenderly, groaning against the sweetness of his mouth when Lance’s nails racked up his neck, legs trembling imperceptibly underneath their weight.

 It was soft, slow, everything Keith had ever imagined and _more,_ and it remained that way until Lance moaned softly, body arching into Keith’s when his fingers travelled from his hips to his navel, following the blue lines drawn on his skin.

“Keith,” he said in a strangled voice, hips twitching underneath Keith’s contact, head tilting back and brows furrowing as his heart beat painfully against his ribs.

He couldn't help the noise that left his mouth when Keith buried his face in the curve of his neck, placing open-mouthed kisses there and passionately working his lips from his collarbone to his jawline with a devotion that set his nerves on fire. Helplessness travelled down his back in the form of a shiver when Keith growled lowly against his skin, nipping and following the traces of the lines on his skin.

“Keith,” he called again, fingers winding in Keith’s locks, pulling at them softly, tenderly, a movement to guide him back to his mouth, where he should be, where he should spend the rest of their lives.

Keith’s whole body trembled in response, gasping and following Lance’s lead blindly, lips crashing against lips hungrily, mouths opening and desperation translating into tight grips and tangled tongues.

They drew away breathless, trying to recover the lost oxygen as hands still roamed the other's body, unable to stop themselves from touching, still hazy and dizzy. Keith opened his mouth, tried to say something, but it died on Lance's mouth when he launched forward, still breathless, to kiss him.

Lance was relentless, but he needed to say it, needed to make Lance understand just how much he had longed, how much he had wanted him for so long.

"I've been—" a kiss, "waiting to—" another kiss, "do that—" a roll of Lance's hips, " for a long—" a low moan against the corner of his lips. "Time."

"Then do it, samurai," Lance said, staring at him with burning eyes that threatened to steal Keith of his soul. The intensity turned into fondness, a challenge, when Lance nuzzled their noses together playfully, hands falling onto Keith’s chest. “Kiss me like you mean it.”

And Keith heard it, heard the desire in his voice, heard how it blended with the challenging tone into something so incredible he could only obey and kiss Lance like the world was ending, like this was his only chance to make him shiver in between his arms.

So he did, bruising their lips together and crouching down, hands slipping underneath Lance’s thighs, hoisting him up, drawing a stunned gasp from his lips. It felt so right to have Lance’s weight right there, legs wrapping tightly around his hips and lips finding his own with raw emotion. He squeezed Lance’s thighs with his hands, feeling the firm skin beneath his palms and the low moan against his mouth.

“That’s hot,” Lance murmured against his lips, hands following the muscles of Keith’s arms and mouth dropping open when Keith pulled him even closer, pressing his crotch against Keith’s abdomen. “You’re so _hot—_ “

“And you are gorgeous,” Keith whispered in response, watching the flush travel from Lance’s cheek to his neck, completely stunned of the power he held over the boy.

Lance whined, legs tightening around him and hands coming up to cradle Keith’s cheeks, looking at him so sweetly Keith felt like imploding. Lance brushed away one lock that had slipped from the careful hold of the pin, fingertips tracing his forehead, eyebrows, eyes, nose, all the way to his lips.  

“Have you seen yourself?” he asked, booping Keith’s nose playfully, before leaning down to kiss it.

“Lance,” he whined, low in his throat as he gripped the paladin’s arms and chased the warmness of his lips with eagerness.

Lance was so sweet, so incredibly gentle and so _good_ to him the only thing Keith wanted to do was curl around Lance and bruise his lips with soft touches. So he did; he opened Lance up, tongue warm against his, and spread his own hands over Lance’s ass, controlling his movements and making him brush against him, slowly, tortuously, basking in the way Lance held onto him, blinded by pleasure.

“I want to make you come,” he said, at the edge of Lance’s lips, and felt the whole-body-tremble that ran through Lance’s skin at his words. “Until you can’t remember your name.”

“Keith— “Lance managed to choke out in between moans.

“I want to have you,” he whispered, as if it was a secret, moving from Lance’s mouth, to his jaw, to end up biting his ear. “Take you apart— “Another well-placed kiss that had Lance grinding against Keith, making him shiver. “And put you back together.”

Lance whispered his name, hands tangling on hair, and dropped low, ass grinding against Keith’s crotch so suddenly it startled a high moan out of him. Lance moved his hips watching, entranced, the way Keith’s arms trembled, the way his brow furrowed and his mouth dropped open a little. The way he focused on all the pleasure.

“You will be the death of me,” Lance murmured, tracing his maroon lips with his eyes and yelping when Keith thrusted his hips up to meet him, creating a rhythm for themselves.

It was scorching, suffocating the way he loved Lance, the way Lance was draped all over him, taking and taking and taking, like he was supposed to be there, clinging to Keith and grinding against him with the desperation of a thousand suns. Keith gasped, watching Lance move, the curl of his body, the way he stretched his neck and closed his eyes tightly, riding the pleasure while still savouring the warmth of Keith’s skin against his.

Keith surged forward then, an inexplicable force pulling at his chest, tightening his throat until he couldn’t breathe, until all he could understand was Lance’s skin beneath his lips, Lance’s sweet sounds on his ears. He kissed and kissed and kissed, ravaging skin, marking it and following lines, creating patterns more beautiful than the ones already painted on Lance’s skin.

“Lance,” he panted against the curve of his neck, hands tightening as his movements became jerky and discontinued.

“Yeah,” Lance moaned, moving his hips deliciously, his movement becoming sloppy too, his thighs tightening around Keith’s hips as gibberish spilled from his mouth. “Anything you want.”

“Anything,” Lance repeated, pulling Keith’s hair so he could kiss him, open-mouthed and desperate, and Keith was completely gone, emotions running senseless and colliding inside of his chest.

“I love you,” he moaned miserably against Lance’s mouth, brows furrowed and hand on Lance’s jaw, fingertips keeping the tempo of his pulse.

 _Crescendo,_ was the only thing Keith could think of, as Lance’s pulse skyrocketed underneath his skin, as his body tightening and curled up, mouth falling open in a silent scream, coming messily against Keith’s body. He took refuge on Keith’s neck, trembling with the force of a hurricane sleeping underneath his skin, and that was it for Keith, who let go of everything holding him there, his mind going blank for a moment as the pleasure became unbearable. The sensation that ran through his nerves made him curl up into Lance, his grip tightening on him as he buried his head on Lance’s hair, moans spilling from his mouth on their own accord.

He only came back to himself when Lance uncurled from him and lowered himself back into the water, frame shaking and small as he took Keith’s palms, strained from holding him for so long, and kissed them slowly, reverently.

“I love you too,” he said, breathless, letting Keith’s hand slip away from his hold to card itself in Lance’s hair.

He leaned against Keith, legs trembling beneath him and murmured: “God, I love you.”

Keith closed his eyes, arms wrapping around Lance as the words reverberated inside of his mind, once, twice, a million times, until the reality of Lance’s body against his finally caught up with his mind. He smiled, grip tightening around Lance as a small laugh managed to make its way out of his mouth, leaving Lance incredibly confused.

“What?”

“Nothing,” he said, laugh becoming stronger as he felt Lance nuzzling against his chest. “I’m just… incredibly happy.”

Lance looked up then, changing their positions so he could slide his hands over Keith’s cheeks and make him look at him. He looked delightful, skin warm with the high flush on his cheeks, eyes so bright and blue Keith felt like drowning just by looking at the pure adoration there.

“Keith Kogane,” Lance said, voice serious, but with the biggest smile on his face, staring into Keith’s eyes as he touched their foreheads together, making Keith’s heart skip a beat. “Light of my life, apple of my eye—“

“Lance—“ he complained, laughing when a devious glint lighted up Lance’s eyes.

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

The tone was soft, vulnerable, just as the way Lance looked at Keith, waiting for him to reply, as if it wasn’t absolutely obvious that Keith was so in love with him. As if it wasn’t absolutely obvious that he would set himself on fire to keep him safe.

“Yes, love,” he replied, feeling something unwinding from his chest and rushing through his veins.

Lance whole face went aflame, caught by surprise by Keith’s words, and, as he squeaked in embarrassment, Keith smirked and drew him in, kissing him over and over until Lance relaxed  against his frame and let himself be opened up sweetly.

Keith thought, as Lance brushed his tongue against his lips playfully, that wanting to kiss Lance and only let go when his usual pout had transformed into a smile was a mistake.

He wanted to kiss Lance long after that, long after that smile had appeared on his face, as much as he could, and as long as Lance wanted him.  

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it!! Comments are very appreciated, and if you want to talk just hit me up at my tumblr or twitter (@warmybones)! I always love talking to you guys! Also, this will probably have a second part, spicier than this one, so just a heads up!


End file.
